Thanks to the member from Sault Ste. Marie for the question. He is right: Members in northern Ontario, like in Sault Ste. Marie, don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to how they heat their homes. A lot of them are using home heating fuels, natural gas and propane.

April 1 is coming up fast; it’s about 25 days away. April 1 is known as April Fool’s Day, and this year it happens to be Easter Monday as well, but do you know what it is again in Justin Trudeau’s world? It’s Groundhog Day, because once again this year, they’re increasing the carbon tax. This time, they’re increasing the carbon tax by 23%. What does that mean for those who heat their home in Sault Ste. Marie and across Ontario? Almost $400 a year in an increase to their home heating bill, not to mention what it means for you when you fill up at the pump and what it’s going to mean in the grocery store.

Mr. Speaker, it’s time to stop this charade at the federal level. Call Justin. Call Jagmeet. Put a pause on this carbon tax. We need to stop it today.

With an increase of 23% in the carbon tax on April 1, it’s going to drive up your home heating bill by another $400 a year. There are many people across this province who simply can’t handle that.

We’ve done everything we can possibly do in Ontario to make life more affordable. We fought the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court. We’ve lowered gasoline taxes by 10.7 cents a litre, eliminated licence plate sticker fees and eliminated tolls on our highways. We’ve never raised a tax. We’ve never raised a fee. And do you know what has happened? In spite of that federal carbon tax, that terrible tax, being in place, we’re seeing record growth in our province: 700,000 more people are working today than when we took government in—

Thanks to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha for the question this morning. It’s an important one, and he’s right: This is what people are talking about on the streets in our communities with the affordability crisis that is going on right now, where people are having to choose between heating and eating in some cases.

While we have put lots of different affordability measures in the window, it’s unfortunate that the opposition Liberals here in Ontario continue to support their federal cousins in imposing a carbon tax, which, according to the Bank of Canada and according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, is driving up the cost of everything.

I’m not going to say exactly which member it was earlier who, when I was answering a question about the carbon tax, indicated that we care more about bicycles in Ontario and riding bicycles than we do about driving. There are a lot of people outside of this city who drive vehicles and it is costing them more and more to drive vehicles. If this Ontario Liberal Party isn’t careful, they’re not going to be the minibus party or the minivan party; they’re going to be the bicycle built for two.

We are putting all of these measures on the table, Mr. Speaker.

The NDP’s plan to give heat pumps to everybody is uncosted; they said it would cost less than $1 billion. It’s that kind of half-baked policy that is going to result in massive, massive over-expenditures. If we were to give everybody who’s on natural gas or home heating or propane in the province a free heat pump, our back-of-the-napkin math would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $16 billion.

You can’t afford the NDP. And the Liberals won’t stand up for the people of Ontario.

Thanks to the member for the question. What our government recognized right from the start was that this tax was going to have a harmful impact on our economy and for the people of Ontario. That’s why we fought it. It’s not a choice; it’s a necessity in this province. A family shouldn’t have to decide. I almost feel like back in my opposition days, when we were criticizing the provincial Liberal government for making people choose between heating and eating. That’s what that same crop of Liberals have now done on Parliament Hill. They haven’t just done it for Ontario, though; they’ve done it for all of Canada.

A construction worker has no choice on how they’re going to get to work. They’re driving their truck and they’re paying the carbon tax on that. The mom who’s taking her son or daughter to school has to pay the carbon tax on their fuel.

While we’ve been busy on this side of the House making life more affordable for the people of Ontario when it comes to electricity prices and fighting the carbon tax every step of the way, getting rid of tolls, getting rid of licence plate stickers—

Interjections.

But the answer to the member’s question is, no, the federal government didn’t reach out to talk to us about how we could expand this program across Ontario. It’s unfortunate, because it is working for the people of Ontario. They chose to only expand this type of program for the people of Atlantic Canada. I’m not exactly sure why they would do that, Mr. Speaker, because it’s not just Atlantic Canadians that are hurting with the impacts of the carbon tax in that jurisdiction; it’s people right across this country, and that includes all of the people in Ontario, who are suffering with an affordability crisis because of the federal government’s carbon tax. We need to—

It’s so disheartening, when we’re doing everything we can in Ontario to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, when the federal government and members of the Liberal opposition and members of the NDP opposition and that Green guy in this Legislature want to drive up the cost of everything.

We’re taking tolls off toll routes in Ontario. We’re giving people back their fees on licence plate stickers, Mr. Speaker. We’re doing all of this, and at the same time—

The member’s question is a pretty difficult one to answer, because the federal government’s approach to scrapping the carbon tax doesn’t make much sense at all. The federal Liberals have decided to pause the carbon tax on one type of home heating fuel, but continue to increase the costs for those who use less emitting types of home heating fuel, like natural gas and propane.

Most of the people here in Ontario, as I have already said, more than 70% of the people in Ontario are using those lower-emissions fuels. Ontario families just shouldn’t be punished because of a decision made by the Prime Minister and his team in Ottawa. The feds need to expand this pause for all people across Ontario. They’re the government of Canada and they should be putting a pause on this for all residents across Canada, not just in Atlantic Canada. It’s time that the opposition parties stand with us and oppose this federal carbon tax once—

When it comes to home heating and natural gas, we need the federal government to come to the table and join us in trying to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario, not just the people of Atlantic Canada but for people across Canada.

As the Premier said this morning, this tax is wrong. It’s hurting people in Ontario. It’s hurting people right across Canada. It’s not fair to the people and we should—

As the Minister of Agriculture has been saying for a couple of years now, Mr. Speaker, it’s driving up the cost of fruits and vegetables in our grocery stores. And it’s pretty simple, because the carbon tax is applied to the fertilizer that the farmers are using. The carbon tax is applied to the fuel that runs their tractors. The carbon tax drives up the cost of the distributors’ trucks to get it to the grocery store. Then, the carbon tax also drives up the cost of energy at those grocery stores, and it drives up the cost of the individual’s fuel to go to the grocery store to get the fruits and vegetables.

This is a terrible tax. We’ve been fighting this tax here on this side of the House since 2018. We need the federal government and we need opposition to come together to make life more affordable for Ontarians.

I want to thank the member from Carleton for a great question. She’s absolutely right once again: Heating fuels like natural gas and propane are often the only options for people in rural and remote parts of Ontario, including our First Nations. Over 70% of Ontarians heat their homes with natural gas and propane. Just this year alone, the federal carbon tax, as we’ve already established, is adding hundreds of dollars to those customers’ bills, making life more unaffordable—it’s about $25 a month per family.

These families and households are still facing the same challenges as the 2.5% of people who use home heating fuel. They’re the only ones that are being exempted from the carbon tax by Canada’s federal government. It doesn’t make any sense. Why are we not exempting all of those other people that are heating with natural gas and propane from the carbon tax as well?

I want to thank the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for a great motion, and hopefully the Liberal caucus here will stop turning themselves in knots—

Interjection.

The Premier has already said it this morning: The carbon tax is wrong. It’s not fair to the people of Ontario. We need the opposition parties in this Legislature to join us and encourage the feds to scrap—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the member from Peterborough is correct yet again. The Prime Minister clearly stated that this pause that was announced last week to the federal carbon tax is only going to apply to those who use home heating oil, which is only 2.5% of the people in Ontario, Mr. Speaker.

The vast majority of the people in Ontario—more than 70% of them, Mr. Speaker—are using lower-emission forms of energy, like propane and natural gas, and what they’re going to see is the carbon tax continue to go up and up and up. That means more money out of their pockets, Mr. Speaker, at a time when affordability is tough for people across Ontario.

As the Premier just mentioned, the carbon tax is driving up the price of gasoline—it’s driving up the price of housing, it’s driving up grocery prices, Mr. Speaker.

This change from the federal Liberal government—the government of Canada, Mr. Speaker—is too little, too late. They need to start acting like the government of Canada—

Just this year alone, the federal tax is adding almost $300 to households on their natural gas heating alone, Mr. Speaker. That’s more than $24 a month. The same goes for households that heat with propane, which are already paying $250 more in taxes this year.

But it’s not going to stop there, Mr. Speaker. By 2030, the federal government—with the opposition parties’ support here at Queen’s Park that includes the current Liberal caucus and the NDP opposition, Mr. Speaker—wants to nearly triple the carbon tax across Canada. The feds aren’t done yet, is the bottom line.

Ontarians can’t afford higher taxes, especially at this time, Mr. Speaker, and these parties—the Liberals, the NDP and the federal Liberals—couldn’t be more out of touch. While we’re reducing the cost of living, they’re continuing to make it more and more expensive for the people of Canada.

Thanks to the member from Peterborough, and congratulations to his Petes on advancing to the OHL final against the London Knights.

Since day one, our government has been working hard to make sure that life is more affordable for the people of Ontario, particularly on the energy file.

That’s why, last fall, I was pleased to announce $4.5 million for the Clean Home Heating Initiative, where members of his community in Peterborough; members in London, home of the Knights; members in St. Catharines, home of the IceDogs; and members in Sault Ste. Marie, home of the Greyhounds, can apply to get a hybrid home heating system. Just last week, I was pleased to join the Attorney General and the member from Barrie–Innisfil in Barrie—home of the Colts—to announce that our government is bringing that investment up to a total of $8.2 million, so that we can offer this additional program to another 500 homes across the city.

This is great news for energy bills, but it’s also great news for the environment.

Our government is excited to provide this opportunity to more communities and more homeowners across the province to lower not just their home energy bills, but also do their part for the environment and reduce emissions. The Clean Home Heating Initiative is going to allow most households to leverage Ontario’s world-class green energy, clean energy grid that we have to both heat and cool their homes with a hybrid heat pump that switches between electricity and natural gas. Switching to hybrid home heating could save them about $300 a year on their energy bills. That’s a significant amount. They would also be cutting their emissions by a third, which is great news for the environment.

We know that people across the province want to have more choice, and we’ve been providing that. People across the province want to have more control over their monthly costs, especially on their energy bills, and I’m proud to say that the Ontario government is delivering on that.